Letter to the Editor: Gun control hypocrisy: What's an 'assault weapon?'

In the last few weeks, local papers have published letters from gun-banners who have been bamboozled by the confusing misinformation put out there by the media to push their gun control agenda. Media leaders have a personal abhorrence for firearms. The New York and LA Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Miami Herald and others all support a ban on ‘assault weapons,’ a non-specific term invented by the media to confuse and dupe the public into supporting bans on guns. At the same time, the media shamelessly and deliberately keeps truthful evidence regarding so-called ‘assault weapons’ from the public, because they know the facts contradict their push for gun control.

The media are experts of deception. Proponents of gun control claim semi-automatics can fire 600 rounds per minute. No it cannot. That is technically impossible, but they repeat the lie over and over and over, until the public believes it. After all, it must be true if the media says so. Right? Their snow job reached TV when former New York Governor Mario Cuomo spoke on banning semi-automatic rifles, while cameras showed a fully automatic rifle firing.

Joseph Tartaro stated in the University of Dayton Law Review Symposium, “One of the key elements of the anti-gun strategy ... is to foster confusion. The public does not know the difference between a fully automatic and a semi-automatic firearm....” This is put into crystal clear focus by one letter that states, ‘The M-16 ... is similar to the .223 Bushmaster ....’ The writer might have checked his facts. The M-16 and the .223 Bushmaster are not the same. The M-16 is an assault rifle, the standard service rifle of most modern armies, with selective fire options: fully automatic (fires continuously when the trigger is pulled one time), semi-automatic (fires one shot each time the trigger is pulled), and burst (several shots are fired when the trigger is pulled one time). Fully automatic and selective firearms are not available to the general public. They have been severely restricted since 1934, available only to regular military, National Guard, and state militia. The .223 Bushmaster is a semi-automatic rifle that has been deliberately mislabeled an ‘assault weapon,’ because of purely cosmetic differences. Defenders of gun control claim these firearms are more deadly because they may have features such as pistol grips, bayonet lugs, flash suppressers, muzzle brakes, and threading. That none of these physical features makes the gun more dangerous is ignored. What does how the thing looks have to do with anything?

New York, the federal government, and the media ignore and hide overwhelming evidence, including reports from the previous ban from 1994-2004, that confirm guns that look like an army weapon pose no special threat. Factual evidence from federal, state and local police clearly shows so-called ‘assault weapons’ are not the ‘weapons of choice’ for violent crimes, that most crime uses illegal weapons, and they make up 1% of guns used in violent crime. Facts on the side of civil rights for gun owners are ignored and hidden.

American people are standing up and fighting for their liberty. The NRA and Wayne Lapiierre are simply standing with them, one of the few organizations fighting to protect the rights of the individual. Without the NRA, the 2nd Amendment might already be gone. This is nothing more than another attack on liberty.

None of this should be happening. The government wants to take guns away and list the names of law abiding citizens who are following all the rules for lawful purchase of a gun in some database, as if they are the criminal. Where will this end?

Do you really think liberals know more than our founders? George Washington, perhaps our foremost founder wrote: “Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence...from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, scurity and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable ... the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”